Mathias Léopoldie

Mathias Léopoldie is the Co-Founder and CEO of Julaya, a mobile payment system based in Western Africa. Prior to Julaya, Mathias worked as an Innovation & Operations Manager at Lemon Way, where they developed the pricing strategy for several countries inside the UEMOA.

A native of Dakar, Senegal, Mathias has always been passionate about technology and its potential to improve people's lives. This passion led him to study computer science at the university level. After graduation, Mathias began their career as a business developer, working first for a small software company before joining Lemon Way in 2015.

At Lemon Way, Mathias was responsible for developing the company's strategy for expansion into Western Africa. In less than a year, Lemon Way had attracted more than 800,000 clients in Mali, becoming the country's 2nd largest mobile payment system. Building on this success, Lemon Way expanded into several other countries within the UEMOA and CEMAC monetary zones by Q4 2017.

During their time at Lemon Way, Mathias gained valuable insights into the unique challenges and opportunities of doing business in West Africa. Mathias has seen firsthand the regulatory challenges faced by startups, the difficulty of accessing funding, and the different digital consumer habits caused by high mobile data costs.

All of these experiences have helped to inform Mathias's vision for Julaya, which they founded in 2017. Julaya is designed to be a more affordable and accessible mobile payment system for Western Africa, with a focus on helping small businesses and entrepreneurs grow. Under Mathias's leadership, Julaya has quickly become one of the most popular mobile payment systems in the region.

Mathias Léopoldie has a dual master's degree in Corporate and Public Management from HEC Paris and Sciences Po. Mathias is also a student-at-large at The University of Chicago Booth School of Business, specializing in corporate finance, investments, and financial accounting. Prior to their current studies, they completed a college degree in macroeconomics and monetary policy at Sciences Po.